Communal Sitting: Bringing Home The Idea Of Family. Food. Fiesta.

More and more I’ve been seeing restaurants in San Francisco pop up the “communal sitting” trend. Communal sitting is where there’s a big table that can hold about 6-8+ people and you may sit with strangers. You may possibly share your actual meal but that depends on the restaurant style. The restaurants we’ve been going to have communal seating but you order your own food. You just get seated next to people so that the table is filled up for space purposes. You are sharing your space with strangers. Space sharing causes a communal-style feel and it can connect us to the idea of eating with your “big Italian family.”

The idea of eating really close to strangers wasn’t too bad. Here are some positives about the communal dining experience.

Communal dining brought awareness of my social cues because I wanted to be courteous to my new neighbors.

I was conscious of how loud I was talking and kept my voice more intimate.

We were able to see what other people were ordering and ask their opinions on their dishes. Personal opinions can be great sometimes from strangers!

One of our new neighbors even gave us a bite of their dish, so we got a taste! (I’ve always wanted to go over to a table and ask to try an amazing looking dish, but I’ve never done it….the person actually offered me a taste, so I felt like I was able to cross this off of my “bucket” list of eating off a strangers plate! So cool!)

Communal sitting reminds me of eating with my huge Croatian family where there are over 15 of us eating, drinking, and talking. Since I’m not always with my family (just my husband), it brought back that feeling of being together.

Communal seating can have downfalls such as sitting next to obnoxious people or wanting to talk about something personal/private with your partner and not being able to since you’re sitting so close to strangers. However, the overall feel isn’t too bad.

The main take-away from the communal seating: Remember that Food is all about Family & Fiesta. When we eat together, we have time to talk, bond, and share memories. As much as possible, take time to eat with others. I do always enjoy eating meals with my family.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT

Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.